Andy Flower has admitted he does not know if some of his batsmen are capable of playing spin in subcontinent conditions.

Three abject innings out of four has left the England boss puzzled over whether the men who batted the team to the top of the world in Australia and at home are capable of doing the same on Asian-style wickets.

Flower did not expect a collapse to 72 all out and a series defeat two Tests into the year.

But the spin of Saeed Ajmal and Abdur Rehman on wickets similar to those back home in Pakistan left him with more questions than answers as he tries to find the men and the formula to be successful in these ­conditions.

Do these players have the skill to do well out here?

“At the moment I think it’s up for debate on the batting front,” admitted Flower. “We weren’t good enough against their spin bowlers.

“We didn’t reverse the pressure and we didn’t put them under pressure.

“That was fairly obvious and it was a combination of us not being skilful enough and not handling the pressure well enough. Playing spin here is completely different to playing it at home or in Australia.

“I don’t think we can get away from the fact you have to work out a method and if that involves rethinking your strategy against then you’ve got to do that.

“I think some of them have to do that. It’s very tricky doing it mid-series and it’s very tricky doing it mid-career but there’s no getting away from the fact some of the methods we’ve employed over the first two Tests haven’t worked.”

Despite a stellar 2011, Kevin Pietersen, Ian Bell and Eoin Morgan have contributed 94 runs in a total of 12 innings during the series. That simply is not good enough. Skills need to score runs on these pitches against spin are as much mental as physical, and Flower admitted the balance between attack and defence was lost in Abu Dhabi.

It may end up costing Morgan his place to Ravi Bopara for the Third Test in Dubai, but this is not something that can be solved with the shuffling of deck chairs.

“You will struggle to win Tests with those contributions form the middle order,” added Flower.

“The challenge isn’t going to go away, we have to front up and take action. The Third Test will be played in similar ­conditions – then we’ve the one-day series, Twenty20s, a Sri Lankan series and an Indian series.

“I don’t like being too philosophical about it because you have to take action in sport and you can’t be too accepting of failure. I don’t want players to be philosophical about it either.”

The review system is making life trickier for batsman who used to pad away the ball, but Flower added: “Some might be using it as an excuse, saying, ‘It’s impossible to play spin’. That’s not the case. The case has always been you play spin with your bat and not your front pad. That hasn’t changed.”